Cultural Differences In The Book Thief

Think back to the time Hitler was in charge of Germany. It was a crazy and hectic place for people who were Jewish. Many times when people look back they remember the Jews and how Hitler tortured them. But what happened to the people who weren’t Jewish? They have an important part in the story as well. In the Secret Diary of Anne Frank, Meep was not a Jewish person yet she helped people who were Jewish, escape from the Nazis and she was crucial for the plan to work. Another book that talked about people who helped a Jewish boy, Max Vandenburg, get to safety is known as “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak. This book shows many cultural differences between what the Jewish went through and what other people went through; two people that really stand

They were then called Hitler Youth, these groups helped train young adults to go off to war. They could learn to be ground troops or in the air force. Liesel’s friend, Rudy, started off in the division where they would have had fight on the field, but then he switched and was then working on getting into the air force. A bully named Franz Deutscher caused Rudy to switch divisions. In The Book Thief, “His older brother, Kurt, inquired as to whether Rudy might join the Flieger Division, which specialized in teaching of aircraft and flying. Mostly, they built model airplanes, and there was no Franz Deutscher. Rudy accepted, and tommy also joined” (Zusak, pg.

It took a lot of courage for Liesel to go up to the burning books and steal one out of the stack when no one was looking. One time she was caught but not by one of the Nazi’s, by the mayors wife. The next time that Liesel went to the mayor’s house for laundry the wife brought her inside and showed her all the books that they kept. Found in The Book Thief, “The two words stood among acres and acres of vacant, wooden-floored land. The books were miles away. The woman nodded. Yes, you can” (Zusak, pg. 134). Although the mayor’s wife didn’t talk much for that one point in time, she told Liesel that when she comes for the laundry she is able to stay and read any book that she would